


Worse Days Endure

by romanticalgirl



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Friends, Romans, Countrymen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worse Days Endure

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://nolivingman.livejournal.com/profile)[**nolivingman**](http://nolivingman.livejournal.com/) for beta duty. And to that William Shakespeare guy. Originally written for the [](http://aos-challenge.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://aos-challenge.livejournal.com/)**aos_challenge** prompt "Ambition".
> 
> Originally posted 6-23-07

"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look."

Horatio looked up from his book, his brow furrowing as he cast his gaze across the table at Archie. "Pardon?"

"Shakespeare."

Hornblower’s brow furrowed even further and he shook his head, his features hardening to a scowl. "Are you trying to say something, Mr. Kennedy?"

Archie’s blue eyes darkened and he glanced down at the book in front of him rather than hold Horatio’s eyes. Horatio sighed and turned back to his text, his fingers smoothing the worn pages as he read. It was difficult to keep his mind on the task, especially with the knowledge of Archie’s shuttered features and the incessant caterwauling that the men insisted was fine music, Clayton playing the fiddle to Jack’s raucous singing.

"It’s from 'Julius Caesar'."

Horatio looked up again at Archie’s soft comment and followed his gaze to where Jack was holding himself as center of attention, most of the men too frightened to look away. He could feel Jack’s stare, cold despite the amusement in his voice as he played acted up, egging on the rest of the men. Horatio watched him for a moment then turned back to Archie.

Archie’s eyes never left Simpson, and Horatio felt fairly certain that whatever look Simpson had given him was nothing compared to whatever it was that he gave to Archie that made the younger man finally drop his eyes. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."

"I fear the second sentence of that makes it completely improper to apply to our friend, Mr. Kennedy."

"Far more likely that he would apply it to you, Mr. Hornblower." A small smile played at the edges of Archie’s mouth. "In fact, the description of Cassius fits you rather well. 'He reads much; He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays…he hears no music; seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort As if he mock’d himself, and scorn’d his spirit that could be move’d to smile at any thing.' Pray tell, Mr. Hornblower, do you have intentions to overthrow the tyranny of Caesar?"

Horatio glanced back at Jack and then at Archie. "Caesar was ambitious."

"So the noble Brutus would have us believe, though it must be said, Brutus was rather in all this for his own greater glory, all his pretty speeches of freedom and republic aside.:

"Would that make you Brutus, Mr. Kennedy?"

"No, Mr. Hornblower. Brutus was brave enough to plunge the knife in himself."

**

Jack sat at the table, reaching in front of Kennedy for the book and pulling it away from him. He took a bite of an apple, spitting the white flesh and juice all over the pages as he read. "Reading filth again, Kennedy?" Archie didn’t move, didn’t speak as Jack set his apple on the page, juice staining the paper. "Or are you trying for culture? Trying to impress Hornblower here, hmm? Show him you’re a bright lad? Perhaps you think you’ll get into his favor and he’ll…what? What d’you think, Kennedy? He’ll protect you?" Jack laughed, the sound low and dangerous. "He can barely protect himself."

"Just reading, Jack." Archie’s voice was pitched low, the familiar humor in it gone in the face of Jack’s proximity. Horatio inhaled, forcing himself to remain calm as Jack picked up his apple, his free hand smearing more juice across the words. "Nothing meant by it."

"Perhaps you’re hoping to improve your position, Kennedy." Jack took another bite, his teeth sharp as they pierced the flesh. "Hoping a bit of learning will put you in good stead. Perhaps you’re looking for a way to show up your friend, Jack."

"I hardly think he need do any studying to effect that, Mr. Simpson."

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he raised his gaze to Horatio, fire flashing in the watery blue. "Pardon me?"

"I would hardly know where to begin," Horatio shrugged and closed his own book as Jack’s hand curled into a fist, tearing the page from Archie’s tome. "Besides, I would think it would require a much higher authority than any I might affect to find pardon for you."

Jack moved like a cat on a mouse, across the table and tumbling Horatio to the floor in barely the blink of an eye. He was eventually pulled off of him, Hether and Cleveland holding Jack’s arms as he spit and kicked at Horatio on the deck, promised threats and retribution as hot and red as the blood coating much of Hornblower’s face.

Kennedy sighed and sank down to the deck beside him as the other midshipmen carted Jack out of the wardroom and the bell rang for the forenoon watch. "You’re mad, aren’t you?"

"Possibly." Horatio sat up, pressing the heel of his hand against his lip for a moment before pulling it away and licking the split skin. "I’m sorry about your book."

"My b…" Archie laughed, shaking his head as he pulled out a handkerchief and carefully mopped at the blood trickling from Hornblower’s nose. "That, Mr. Hornblower, is the least of my worries. And yours, to be honest. Jack’s not a man who likes to be mocked."

"No man likes to be mocked, Mr. Kennedy. The difference is that other men do their best to stay out of situations where it can't be avoided." He managed a weak smile at Kennedy. "Caesar dies."

"Yes. Cassius and Brutus and a few others kill him on the senate floor."

Horatio nodded and levered himself to his feet, sighing as he glanced down at his uniform. “Right then."

"Are you suggesting we take our cue from history, Mr. Hornblower?"

"I’m suggesting no such thing, Mr. Kennedy." Horatio’s gaze remained fixed on the direction Jack had been taken, the black curses still lingering in the air. "What happened to Cassius?"

"Well, the play is a tragedy..."

"Mr. Kennedy, do let’s not mince words, shall we?"

"He has a man kill him." Archie offered the book, dusty and spine broken from the ruckus, to Horatio. "A man whose life he saved."

"Seems rather foolish." Horatio took the book and brushed it off, his nail scratching at a spot of blood that darkened the cover. "Don’t you think?"

"Caesar wasn’t the only one who was ambitious."

"You’re wrong, Mr. Kennedy." Horatio handed him back the book and sat back down at the table. "Caesar _wasn’t_ ambitious. He was a tyrant. He had it all." He picked his own book up from the floor and laid it in Archie’s hand on top of his own book so that Archie could see the title - _The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire_ \- "Ambition killed Caesar." Horatio nodded and stood, his gaze still carefully pointed in Jack Simpson’s general direction. "It just wasn’t his own."  



End file.
